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Wednesday 6 March 2024

The Unenthusiastic Skulker.

 Date-28th February 192ish.

Place-Garvald’s Twin Town in the Back of Beyond.

             

Artsakh-Garvald’s Twin Town.


                The first game of the year saw us return to the deserts and backwaters of Artsakh which to some I would imagine would qualify it as Garvald’s twin town.Tonight’s game was to be the last rule tester before a few of the Gothenburg Gamers headed out to Scotland’s backwater of Kirriemuir to do battles with the League of Gentlemen Wargamers in their biannual get together.

Garvald’s Twin Town 

A Picture Postcard view of the local market.
                Four ne’er-do-wells and myself gathered to play out these final run throughs with all the amendments and rule simplifications .Basic forces had been set up and we were ready for the off but we had to delay kickoff as we were waiting on the Mad Baron of North Berwick to arrive.After his grand entrance we got down to the nitty gritty with each unit facing another.Due to a late call of Donald and I were left in charge of three units so I let him have some extra cavalry and an armoured car to help him cut swathes through the Mad Baron’s forces and his partner in crime Comrade Gilchristi.What was I thinking off? I expected to be able to concentrate on removing El Presidente’s Chinese rabble from the playing field and bask in my glory but that wasn’t to be the case. I systematically took the Chinese apart but on glancing to my left found that the chief Skulker’s forces were diminishing with a lot of dead horses lying about and an armoured car that was needing a visit from the local AA.
Donald’s forces given some support.

My Brits about to bestow the British way of life on some Oriental heathens.

         After our usual visit to the local hostelry in Garvald we got down to fighting to the bitter end.In Donald’s case that didn’t last long. I duly got down to business of eradicating the enemy with a combination of cannon fire and a stiff upper lip clearing the Chinese infantry from the field and thoroughly dismantling the enemy’s armour.The Russian allies that I had appropriated were found to be under enthusiastic in moving forward to take the village but eventually one of the units finally arrived at the railway station but found themselves in opposition with their fellow countrymen albeit in the form of Redskis courtesy of Comrade Gilchristi but alas his infantry didn’t want to occupy it as enthusiastically as myself.My lads duly entered the station bought some railway tickets and proceeded to fire at the Comrades’s lads with some good old lead shot.
Corned Beef on the hoof.

Comrade Gilchristi’s infantry looking to see if they have enough money to buy some train tickets.

My Russian conscripts seemed to have lost their way to the village.

         On the other side of the pitch Chief Skulker was not making as much headway as myself and as previously stated was finding his part of the battlefield littered with equine corpses as he struggled to deal with the cavalry onslaught from the Mad Baron and his erstwhile ally as first his lesser cavalry were coming up trumps against Donald’s supposedly better cavalry and as for his armoured car it was coming up second best against what looked like a lorry with some scrap metal on it.
Donald’s Armour looking as proud as a Peacock-For Now!

The Mad Baron’s hastily put together armour.

And his “inferior”cavalry.

        I must have been distracted with events going on in my flank as I lost track of my own advances and found that El Presidente was beginning to cause a few casualties amongst my lads culminating in the destruction of my armoured car.To rub salt into my wounds Comrade Gilchristi had sneaked a machine gun team into an adjoining building to the railway station and was taking aim on my ensconced infantry picking them off and forcing them to vacate the premises and then proceeding to shoot them in their retreating back and that was their fellow countrymen.Their remaining colleagues on seeing this decided to head for cover in the other buildings.Donald was still playing to form as he was whittled down to a squad of Japanese sailors (what they were doing in the middle of a desert I don’t know).They took cover in the village but the vicious two way assault was too much for them and they eventually dissolved into a mass of sushi.
           
The “better cavalry “getting the s**t kicked out of them by the “lesser”cavalry.

Comrade Gilchristi’s sneaky machine gun.

Japanese sailors passing their useless armoured car whilst heading for the local Premier Inn.

        With the destruction of our left flank and the wrath of the Mad Baron and the Comrade’s coalition about to descend on me the full time whistle was blown .My only bit of luck in the evening.
Comrade Gilchristi’s infantry coming to the market to buy some apples.

Whilst the Mad Baron’s forces devour the rest of the village.

And the suburbs.

      An interesting game played in order to check out the final draft of the rules.An ok set of rules based on Men Who Would Be Kings with a few added rules (and bad spelling).Hopefully they will go down well on the day.All figs and scenario came courtesy of The Three Stooges-El Presidente,Cheif Skulker and Comrade Gilchristi.
The Mad Baron/Comrade Gilchristi’s coalition forces basking in their victory.

       See You All When I See You.
     This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

Thursday 7 December 2023

Manchurian Rule Candidate

 Wednesday 6th December 192ish.

Place-Manchuria (Backlot of Garvald Film Studios)


       Tonight’s get together found us with a little skirmish in the Back of Beyond.El Presidente wanted to try out another set of rules for this period as the chief Skulker had asked for them to be tried out and an opinion given but of course he wasn’t there.

The not needed command unit bellowing out orders.

My army in full swing.

The Japanese pile of the train from standard class.

       The skirmish involved Imperial Japanese against Imperial Chinese.The Japanese were regarded as superior to the Chinese rabble but sometimes appearances can be deceptive. I took charge of the Chinese “rabble “reinforced by a troop of White Russian cavalry who were to prove to be the saviours of the Chinese Empire albeit very temporary.

The Manchurian Choo Choo.

The Japanese Horse Soldiers.

A little village somewhere in Manchuria.

      The object of our desires was some forsaken crossroad with a few buildings huddled around it and only one peasant to be seen.The game kicked off with everybody converging on the crossroads some a bit more faster than others.One of the traits of the game was dicing to see if you could perform an action which is a bit of a bummer when your units can’t even be bothered moving-repeatedly especially cavalry and assault units.El Presidente moved straight in to town with his cavalry,unhorsed them and set them up in the local church ready to repel all boarders. The only forces of mine was a unit of infantry who started trading shots with the Japanese cavalry.

Now the first class passengers get off.

My lads digging in.



The forces of evil arrive.

             One of El Presidente’s units had a “drunken “leader and this hindered them from moving forward and even El Presidente stated that he hoped the unit leader would get killed in order for the remainder of the unit to be able to function better-no such luck.His other infantry arrived at the crossroads and decided to stay in the open.This gave my assault unit a chance to charge in and scatter the Japanese peasants to the four winds.No such luck as my infantry were sent scurrying away into cover by their enemy.Things were not looking good for the Chinese.

The machine gun team welcoming the drunkards.

My lads advance to the rear.

Crossroads brawl.

            My other infantry came up on the other flank and proceeded to take cover in some peasant’s garden trampling over the Pak Choi in the process.They readied themselves for an attack by the saki sodden infantry facing them and they traded shots with each other for a few turns before lo and behold the Japanese were dislodged from the premises and were last seen heading back to the nearest saki bar not to take any further part in the proceedings.My victory was short lived as El Presidente moved up a machine gun and proceeded to rake my poor ensconced infantry disastrously meaning my lads had to retire ungracefully from the now well trodden cabbage patch.My only real success I was having was with my mortar which was chipping away at the cavalry in the church.

The Japanese best unit.

The Whites charge in.

And keep on charging!

          The game turner came when I finally got the White cavalry moving away from the main road and around the side of the village.Once they made their way around the Japanese infantry on the crossroads came into view so it was a matter of lances out and charge in which they did with instant success.El Presidente did make a comment about the lances being very powerful but he did divvy up the forces.His church ensconced cavalry tried to take some pot shots at my victorious lads but couldn’t land a shot on target..My mortar and my only viable infantry unit kept up fire on the church eventually causing the unmounted Japanese cavalry to leave the church by the back door putting them straight into the sights of my White cavalry.Tally Ho!(in Russian)was heard to be uttered by my cavalry as they ploughed into the pitiless Japanese.Game,Set and Match to the Chinese although it was the foreigners who done the deed.

My mortar wi a wee lad at the back sitting eating his rice.

“I haven’t a clue where you’re army went?”


        A quick game played out without any bickering apart from a few words about the lethality of the lances.The rules we used were “Men Who Would Be Kings”Ok but I can think of a couple of preferred sets.I didn’t realise that the rules come from the same stable as Lion and Dragon Rampant as well as Xenos Rampant although I did notice a few similarities I.e dicing for activation.

      All figures,scenery and scenario provided by El Presidente.Hopefully I’ll get in another game before Hogswatch and a chance to regale you with our escapades.

     

    This has been a Garvald Film Studios Production.

Sunday 3 December 2023

Snow Station Moose









 Date 29th November 197odd.

Place Northern Canada.


                     Another winter day in northern Canada found us on some deserted airfield with a hidden forgotten secret.This uncovered “secret”was to provide tonight’s entertainment with a Svalbardian incursion involving sleeper cells,paratroopers,evil KGB manipulators and intervening Canadians(how dare they).



The deserted airfield.

      I’d been working on this game for a wee while getting figs and scenery ready but it did turn out to be a wee bit of a damp squib.I always find that anticipation always far exceeds the event but one wasn’t giving up.I used the 7TV original game rules with the original random event cards as I find they provide for a better game than the new ones. I also added a few rule adjustments to move the plot. The plan was for the sleeper cell to do away with the security guards making way for a para drop leading to the arrival of the KGB mastermind and eventually the arrival of the transport plane that was going to whisk away the “maguffin”.

Target rich environment.

The Sleepers.

Spreading out in a bunch.

Here come the paras.

     The game kicked off with the arrival of the sleeper team who proceeded to do away with the security guards within two turns.I suppose I was to blame as I had set them up having a chinwag in the middle of the snow strewn runway.The only guard who got a shot in was the female squad commander but even then it only managed to dislodge a few flakes of snow.The quick disposal of the guards made way for the safe arrival of the Svalbardian paras who proceeded to drop all over the airfield with the squad commander and one of his lackeys landing in the “dense”forest.This arrival drew the attention of two passing ski troops who came to investigate the aircraft noise.One of the skiers was immediately dispatched whilst the other sped towards the nearest cover.

On her tod.

Taking up position.

Here come Hoddit and Doddit.

              The disposal and cowering of the ski troops meant that the evil KGB mastermind Vladi Vostock and his seductive assistant Nikita Cruiseshipski could arrive safely in their helicopter hoping for no setbacks to their appropriation of the super duper forgotten secret gadget.This was to prove fruitess as the gunfire drew the attention of Canada’s most sooper dooper agent Monte the Mountie ,his trusty sidekick ,Pandora Box,and a whole load of gun toting soldiers this time sans skis.

Regrouping.

And regrouping behind Doddit.

Landing in six feet of snow.

         The Svalbardian paras put a ring of steel around the newly found Maguffin and were ready to defend it till the arrival of the transport plane in the third act.The Canadians edged forward into the hail of bullets that were coming from the ensconced defenders.The Canadians dived for whatever cover they could find taking some casualties along the way.

Vladi and Nikita arrive.

Finding the lost secret.

       The main contingent of the Canucks headed for the main building and proceeded to do battle with the Svalbardians whilst the remainder (all two of them)traded shots with the sleepers cowering behind oil drums on the other side of the runway.The Canuck star Monte the Mountie made his costar Pandora Box,make her way around the rear of the nearest hanger whist he slowly edged his way around the front door drawing fire from the paras on top of the main building.A bit of luck came my way with the drawing of an event card that caused a three inch blast amongst some of El Presidente’s bunched up paras.Two down but still a s***load to go.

Ring of steel.

“Is this it(in Svalbardian)?

     Mr KGB Vladi,meanwhile had made his way to the now appropriated vehicle and was wondering how to hot wire it when he heard the sound of approaching aeroplane engines.Time to get a move on .He delegated his Babooshka to hinder the Canuck movements and she headed venomously towards the rear of the main building and immediately took out an unsuspecting Canuck.This gave Pandora the opportunity to fire back unhindered but she wasted both opportunities.

Waiting for his mates.

The Canucks congregate.

       The unmarked aeroplane made its landing run in hoping to land,turn,load the cargo and be offski.It was then I had realised I hadn’t given the Canucks anything to bring the plane down with but I wasn’t going to tell El Presidente.I even thought of commandeering the helicopter and hover in front of the plane but realistically that wasn’t going to happen.

Pandora boxing herself in.

Two interlopers spontaneously combusting.

     Pandora’s shooting eventually proved successful as she took out the babooshka,sexy black number and all,but I still hadn’t a plan to stop the plane in the game’s time schedule but I’m sure in the TV series world something would and it did(sort off).I drew an event card ending the game after the next turn-boo yah!

Getting roond the back.

The plane arrives.

Times running out for Pandora.

        The game ended in yet another cliffhanger with the sight of the vehicle being driven into the cargo plane and the sound of gunfire resonating around the airfield.What a stroke of luck.A scoring draw was snatched from the jaws of a Svalbardian victory.One doesn’t complain.

Vladi hot wiring the car.

Nikita goes down.

       The game was enjoyable with a few more ideas and thoughts for future games.My thanks to El Presidente for supplying the mat and various pieces of scenery.The remainder came from a few years of picking  things up and scrounging.



Into the plane.

“And off we go!”-or does it?

       See You All When I See You!

          This has been a Garvald Film Studios